Proportionating feeder for slurries



June 13, 1961 5, STONE ET AL 2,988,104

PROPORTIONATING FEEDER FOR SLURRIES Filed May 15, 1959 52 50 FIG. I no 56 I2 55 L J 2'0 22 T; INVEN-TORSH 27o H6. 7 SPENCER A. STONE DONALD N- GRIFFIN aklw ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,988,104 PROPORTIONATING FEEDER FOR SLIJRRIES Spencer A. Stone and Donald N. Griffin, Fort Wayne, Ind., assignors to The Deister Concentrator Cpmpany,

Inc., Fort Wayne, Ind., a corporation of Indiana Filed May 13, 1959, Ser. No. 812,849 16 Claims. (Cl. 137-262) This invention relates to proportionating feeders for distributing slurries of particulate solid material. It is described in connection with a two or more screen wet screening apparatus for wet screening particulate materials, as ore and coal, in which the screens operate in parallel, but its usefulness is not limited thereto. This application is a continuation-in-part of application Serial No. 671,096, filed July 10, 1957, now abandoned.

In any apparatus in which a stream of slurry is to be divided into two or more parts for separate treatments of the divided streams, it is desirable that the proportionating device be simple and rugged, but at the same time fairly accurate.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a proportionating feeder, which will divide a stream of material fed thereto in a simple and effective manner.

Further objects will appear from the detailed description, in which will be set forth a number of embodiments of this invention. It is to be understood, however, that this invention is susceptible of various embodiments within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a vertical section through a proportionating feeder in accordance with one embodiment of this invention, taken generally along the line 11, FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a cross section along the line 22, FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical section along the line 3--3, FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a section along the line 4-4, FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a partial view similar to that of FIG. 1 of another embodiment of this invention, the section being taken along the line 55, FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is a section along the line 66, FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a section along the line '7--7, FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a cross section similar to the top of FIG. 1, but showing another embodiment of this invention.

Generally stated and in accordance with illustrative embodiments of this invention, a head box having a weir has the material fed thereto on one side of the weir, and a plurality of chutes open from the other side of the weir, these chutes inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their bottoms to respective conduits. More specifically, the chutes are in sets, with one set inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation to the chutes of another set. As illustrated and described, each chute is formed by spaced walls with a spacer between the walls, each spacer having an upper edge form ing a downwardly inclining surface; again, more specifically, there are a plurality of adjacent walls with sets of spacers between the walls.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 14, a housing 10 is provided with a head box 11, which has an upwardly extending partition 12 forming a weir, and a feed pipe 13 discharges into the feed box on one (right) side of the weir. On the other (left) side of the weir is a series of spaced walls 14 extending from the end 15 of the housing to the weir. Arranged between the spaced walls 14 is a series of spacers 16, FIGS. 1 and 2, whose upper edges 17 form downwardly inclined surfaces, inclining from right to left, FIG. 1. Alternating with the spacers 16 are spacers 18, FIGS. 2 and 4, having upper edges 19 forming downwardly inclined surfaces, inclining from left to right, FIG. 4. At the bottom of the housing 10 are ice chambers 20 and 21, FIGS. 1 and 4, separated by a partition 22, with the left side of the partition at the ends of the surfaces 17 of the spacers 16 and with the right side of the partition at the end of the surfaces 19 of the spacers 18. There are thus formed by the spaced walls 14 and the spacers 16 and 18, sets of chutes discharging respectively into the chambers 20 and 21. The tops of the spacers 18 are extended to the left, FIGS. 1 and 4, to form a shelf 23. There is also a removable cover 24 for a purpose to be described. The feed box 11' and the chambers 20 and 21 are lined with rubber or other material generally indicated at 25.

Chamber 2i) discharges into a conduit 26 and chamber 21 discharges into a conduit 27. The conduit 26 discharges into a housing 28 of any suitable form, which has an outlet 29 into a housing 30 and discharging at 31 onto a suitable treater such as a screen 32, which may be of usual construction. Likewise, the conduit 27 discharges into a housing 33 discharging at 34 onto another treater such as a screen 35. The housings 28, 30 and 33 may again be lined with a suitable material such as rubber, generally indicated at 36.

In the operation of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 14 and previously described, slurry of particulate material for example ore or coal in a water slurry, is pumped by the pipe 13 into the head box 11. The slurry then spills over the weir 12 and over the tops of the walls 14 and the spacers 16 and 18. The slurry then proceeds by divided streams in the directions of the arrows, FIGS. 1 and 4, with one stream to the chamber 20 and the conduit 26 and with the other stream to the chamber 21 and the conduit 27; from hence the divided slurry goes to the treaters such as the screens 32 and 35. The supply of the slurry to the head box should be sufficiently less than the capacity of the chutes formed by the walls 14 and the spacers 16 and 18 to avoid flooding of the chutes and to permit the flow of slurry over the weir in a uniform manner. Any tramp over-size material which is larger than the chutes will collect on the shelf 23 and can be removed by removing the cover 24.

While as shown by the direction of the arrows, FIGS. 1 and 4, the flow of the slurry over the weir to the openings to the chutes follows somewhat unequal paths, the tendency will be to draw the slurry to the left, FIG. 1, so that for all practical purposes, the distribution or proportionating of the slurry through the chutes will be equal with equal dimensions of the chutes. However, in order to avoid any inequality, the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are provided.

Referring now to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 illustrating another embodiment of this invention, similar parts are indicated by similar reference numerals as in FIGS. 1-4. In this embodiment the spaced walls 50 extend from a vertical wall 51 and extend on an incline 52 downwardly to the weir 12. The spacers 53 have inclined surfaces 54 which extend from below the top of the weir to the left side of the partition 22, FIG. 5. The spacers 55, FIG. 7, have inclined walls 56 which extend from below the top of the wall 51 to the right side of the partition 22. The operation of this embodiment is substantially the same as that illustrated in FIGS. 1-4. However, this construction Se cures a more uniform distribution of the slurry than that in FIGS. 14, because there is no liability of reversal of the slurry on a shelf such as 23, FIGS. 1 and 4. This, of course, eliminates the shelf, but the over-sized material can be picked off the spaced walls 50 if larger than the space between the walls by removing the cover 24.

More than two divisions of the feed stream can also be made. Thus, the stream flowing to the conduit 26, FIG. 1, can again be divided as shown in FIG. 8. There is here provided a second box housing constructed as shown in FIGS. 1-4 and with the same reference numer.

als applied with a added; i.e., with a like weir 120, like side walls as 147, like spacers 160 and 180, like inclines 170 and 190, like shelf 230, like cover 240, and like partition 220. The chambers 200 and 214} discharge into conduits 260 and 270 which may lead to additional treaters such as screens. It will be apparent that the operation of sub-dividing the slurry from conduit will be carried out in the same manner as initially sub-dividing the stream from pipe 13. It is apparent that instead of the construction shown in FIG. 8, the constructions shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 may be employed.

This invention accomplishes its objects in providing an efficient rugged proportionating feeder and will continuously proportion a stream of slurry fairly accurately among various conduits.

As noted above the treaters 35 and 32 may be in the form of screens, however the treater may be one capable of performing other treating operations, for example, a concentrating table or tables.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, and a plurality of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of said chutes opening from the other side of said weir and said chutes inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits.

2. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, and a plurality of sets of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of said chutes opening from the other side of said weir, the chutes of one set inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation to the chutes of another set, said sets of chutes discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits.

3. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of adjacent spaced walls extending from the other side of said weir, and spacers between said walls, each spacer having an upper edge forming a downwardly inclined sur face, the inclined surfaces of spacers between adjacent walls inclining in opposite angular relation thereby forming a plurality of chutes, each chute being open at its top and at its bottom, said chutes discharging at their bottoms to the respective conduits.

4. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of adjacent spaced walls extending from the other side of said weir, and sets of spacers between said walls, each spacer having an upper edge forming a downwardly inclined surface, the inclined surfaces of one set of spacers inclining in opposite angular relation with respect to the inclined surface of spacers of another set thereby forming a plurality of sets of chutes, each chute being open at the top and at its bottom, and the respective sets of chutes discharging at their bottoms to the respective conduits.

5. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of spaced partitions extending from said weir on the side of the weir opposite the feed supply, and spacers between said partitions, at least one of said spacers having an inclined surface in one direction and at least one other of said spacers having an inclined surface oppositely directed with respect to said first direction thereby forming a plurality of chutes, said chutes having open tops and having bottoms opening into a plurality of separate conduits.

6. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of said chutes opening from the other side of said weir and inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits, and means extending beyond the opening of one of said chutes in a direction away from said weir adapted to trap oversize material.

7. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of adjacent spaced walls extending from the other side of said weir, and spacers between said walls, each spacer having an upper edge forming a downwardly inclined surface, the inclined surfaces of spacers between adjacent walls inclining in opposite angular relation thereby forming a plurality of chutes, each chute being open at its top and at its bottom, said chutes discharging at their bottoms to the respective conduits, the top of at least one of said spacers extending in a direction away from said weir to form a shelf.

8. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to, distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of adjacent spaced walls extending from the other side of said weir, and sets of spacers between said walls, each spacer having an upper edge forming a downwardly inclined surface, the inclined surfaces of one set of spacers inclining in opposite angular relation with respect to the inclined surfaces of spacers of another set thereby forming a plurality of sets of chutes, each chute being open at its top and at its bottom, said chutes discharging at their bottoms to the respective conduits, the tops of the spacers of one of said sets extending in a direction away from said weir to form a shell.

9. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of stations, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of partitions extending from said weir on the side of the weir opposite the feed supply, said partitions defining the side walls of a plurality of chutes, said chutes being open at their tops and having bottoms opening into a plurality of separate conduits, said partitions being spaced apart a distance sufficient freely to admit the particulate material of said slurry, but to trap tramp oversize material, said partitions extending away from said weir to a shelf area beyond the normal throw of slurry over said weir, and means on said head box adjacent the upper edges of said partitions and accessible to said shelf area.

10. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of each of said chutes forming an opening from the other side of said weir and said chutes inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits, and means for arresting the horizontal flow of the material at the ends of the top openings of said chutes which are removed from said weir.

11. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom the tops of each of said chutes forming an opening from the other side of said weir and said chutes inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits, and a wall positioned at the top openings of said chutes at the ends thereof which are farthest removed from said weir, adapted to arrest the horizontal flow of the material.

12. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a plurality of sets of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of each of said chutes forming an opening from the other side of said weir, the chutes of one set inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation to the chutes of another set, said sets of chutes discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits, and means for arresting the horizontal flow of the mate rial at the ends of the top openings of said chutes which are removed from said weir.

13. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of adjacent spaced walls extending from the other side of said weir, spacers between said walls, each spacer having an upper edge forming a downwardly inclined surface, the inclined surfaces of spacers between adjacent walls inclining in opposite angular relation thereby forming a plurality of chutes, each chute being open at its top and at its bottom, said chutes discharging at their bottoms to the respective conduits, and a wall positioned at the top openings of said chutes at the ends thereof which are farthest removed from said weir, adapted to arrest the horizontal flow of the material.

14. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of each of said chutes forming an opening from the other side of said weir and said chutes inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to the respective eonduits, said chutes inclining respectively towards and away from the vertical plane of said weir, and a wall positioned at the top openings of said chutes at the ends thereof farthest removed from said weir, adapted to arrest the horizontal flow of the material.

15. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box having a weir, a feed supply to said head box on one side of said weir, a plurality of sets of chutes, each chute having a top and an open bottom, the tops of each of said chutes forming an opening from the other side of said weir, the chutes of one set inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation to the chutes of another set, said sets of chutes discharging at their open bottoms to the respective conduits, said sets inclining respectively toward and away from the vertical plane of said weir, and a wall positioned at the top openings of said chutes at the ends thereof farthest removed from said weir, adapted to arrest the horizontal flow of the material.

16. A proportionating feeder adapted continuously to distribute a slurry of particulate material to a plurality of conduits, comprising, a head box, a feed supply to said head box, a set of chutes receiving the material from said head box and discharging into the respective conduits, a second head box receiving the material from one of said conduits; a second set of chutes receiving the material from said second head box, and a plurality of conduits each receiving the material from one of said last named chutes, the chutes of each set having open tops and open bottoms, the tops of the chutes of each set opening from its respective head box and the chutes of each set inclining downwardly in opposite angular relation and discharging at their open bottoms to their respective conduits.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,121,246 Hinman Dec. 15, 1914 FOREIGN PATENTS 315,154 Italy Feb. 17, 1934 

